Like many students at Newmarket High School, student council president Alex Simion has to traverse a steep dirt path from Mulock Drive to get to classes.
Near the Mulock Drive crosswalk, the unmaintained path is frequented by students from the surrounding neighbourhoods as a shortcut, rather than walking all the way around the corner using the sidewalk.
Students often slip and fall, especially during winter and spring, Simion said, adding that he has done that himself. He said he is taking action to try to see the hill made safer for students.
“It’s just unsafe because if someone is slipping and falls, if it’s ice especially, what happens? You’re going to crack your head open one day,” Simion said. “This isn’t just say, 20 kids experiencing this problem, this is a lot, hundreds of kids.”
Simion started an online petition March 16 asking York Region District School Board to install stairs — it has more than 370 signatures as of March 19 — after he said the board has expressed reluctance to take action.
After speaking with school officials and bringing around a board representative, Simion said he was told it is not a designated pathway to the school and that it would take regular maintenance.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” he said of the board response. “To me, it seems like they’re avoiding it because of the cost, but are you worried about building a staircase because of the money, and you don’t care about the students' safety? That’s what it sounds like to me.”
In response to the petition, YRDSB senior manager of corporate communications Licinio Miguelo said the board has fully investigated a proposal for a stairway but found there to be issues.
"Installing a stairway would not meet accessibility requirements. As well, the Board would have no ability to maintain either the steps or the pathway, particularly in the winter, making them a hazard," Miguelo said. "For these reasons, the Board has determined installing a safe path of the size and elevation required directly facing the crosswalk is not feasible. We will continue to message to students to walk and travel safely to school using existing entryways."
Newmarket High School parent council co-chair Shameela Shakeel said it is something they have requested for years, as well, as far back as when the crosswalk was installed by the town in 2017. She added that the crosswalk only happened, despite years of requests, after students were hit by a car while trying to cross Mulock.
“It’s frustrating because they should have realized that the stairs would be required once the crosswalk was installed and that teenagers are going to take the muddy path down to save time anyway,” Shakeel said.
The board has installed a fence in the past to block the path, Simion said. But students would just hop the fence, until the board gave up and left the pathway open.
It is better to take action before someone gets hurt, as occurred for the crosswalk, he said.
"Are we going to wait for someone to get severely injured for us to put something here?" he said.
Simion said he is happy to see the positive response his petition has received and that students are getting behind it.
“Three hundred out of (about 1,600 students) in two days is actually really promising,” he said. “I’m confident we’ll get over a thousand within a week.
“It just sucks to see this board is prioritizing money over student safety,” he added.
You can find the petition online through change.org.
